Protests erupt in multiple cities after TLP chief Saad Rizvi detained in Lahore
Imran Gabol |
Adnan SheikhPublished April 12, 2021 - Updated 2 minutes ago
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Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan chief Saad Hussain Rizvi. — Photo courtesy Facebook
Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Saad Hussain Rizvi has been detained by security forces in Lahore on Monday, the party leadership confirmed.
A senior police official also confirmed to
Dawn that Rizvi had been taken into custody as a "pre-emptive measure". No first information report (FIR) against the TLP central emir has been registered so far.
Protests broke out at numerous places in Karachi and other major cities following the development.
In a video message, TLP naib emir Syed Zaheerul Hassan Shah said the government had "completely deviated from" the agreement it had reached with the TLP regarding Namoos-i-Risalat.
"The government has resorted to thuggery (
gunda gardi) and is restoring its past practices," he said, confirming Rizvi's arrest.
Shah called upon TLP leaders and workers to "come out on the roads" in their areas in protest against the government action.
“Carry out protest demonstrations on roads and wherever you are, jam the entire country," he told them in the message.
TLP member Khalid Awan told
Dawn that the TLP chief was taken into custody on the way back from leading a funeral prayer and was currently being kept at the Gulshan-i-Ravi police station. He said the government had "turned back on its promise" to expel the French ambassador by April 20 and took Rizvi into custody.
"We will not step back from our mission because of Saad Rizvi's arrest," he said.
The TLP had previously called off
protests in February after an
agreement was signed between the group and the government in which it was decided that the government would present the terms of an earlier agreement signed between them last year in the parliament before April 20.
That
earlier agreement had stated that the government would reach a consensus in the parliament regarding the expulsion of the French ambassador within three months, would not appoint its ambassador to France and would release all the arrested workers of the TLP. The government would also not register any case against TLP leaders or workers, it stated.
"Negotiations have been going on between the government of Pakistan and TLP on this problem for a month during which the government has reaffirmed its resolve. Terms of the [previous] agreement will be presented in parliament by April 20, 2021, and decisions will be taken with the approval of the parliament," the agreement read.
It also said that names of TLP members that had been placed on the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) would be removed.
Following news of Rizvi's arrest, TLP workers started protesting on several roads and in many areas in Karachi including Baldia No. 4 Hub River Road, Northern Bypass, Orangi Town No. 5, Jinnah Bridge (traffic blocked from ICI towards Jinnah Bridge), Star Gate.
Last year, dozens of policemen and TLP workers were injured when
clashes broke out between the protesters and police in Rawalpindi.
Riot police had to resort to teargas shelling against the stone-pelting protesters who had gathered on the call of former TLP chief Allama Khadim Hussain Rizvi to denounce the publication of blasphemous caricatures in Charlie Hebdo magazine and remarks about Islam and terrorism by French President Emmanuel Macron.
More than 200 protesters had also been rounded up by police ahead of the protests. The protesters had dispersed after an agreement was signed between the government and TLP on November 16, 2020.
same will be the fate of TLP.
